Senegal bushbaby
Galago senegalensis
— Where the name comes from
Galago seems to go back to a Wolof word for “monkey”, though the origin is disputed. The English name, bushbaby, comes from the night call: a high wail that in the African bush sounds exactly like a crying infant, and that has frightened generations of travellers. Senegalensis names the locality where it was described.
— Facts
- Group
- Mammals · Mammalia
- Order
- Primates
- Habitat
- Wooded savannah, dry bushland, gallery forest
- Range
- Sub-Saharan Africa, from the Sahel belt to East Africa
- Size
- 13–21 cm of body plus a longer tail, 95–300 g
- Diet
- Omnivore — acacia gum and insects, caught in mid-air
- Lifespan
- 10 years in the wild, up to 16 in captivity
— Characteristics
- 01
It jumps up to 2.25 metres straight up from a standstill, over ten times its own length.
- 02
The ears fold independently of one another to place insects in the dark.
- 03
It has a tapetum lucidum that reflects light: in the dark its eyes shine like two coins.
— What sets it apart
It urinates on its own hands, deliberately and regularly. The behaviour is called urine washing and has at least two functions: it leaves a scent trail along every branch it travels, drawing an olfactory map of its territory that other bushbabies can read, and it keeps the palms damp, improving grip on landing. An animal that makes two-metre leaps in the dark between slender branches needs traction, and this is the solution it found.
